City passes bylaw on collecting deferred electrical bills

Sep 8, 2021 | 1:46 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge City Council passed a bylaw Tuesday and the city will collect deferred electricity bills soon.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people who experienced economic hardships and were unable to pay their electric bills were able to hold off on paying temporarily.

“The Government of Alberta established the Utility Payment Deferral Program, whereby electricity customers were able to defer the payment of certain amounts on their electricity bills from March 18, 2020, to June 18, 2020, until June 19, 2020, to June 18, 2021,” the city says.

Not all deferred payments were repaid, as the “outstanding amounts need to be collected by the entire electric customers within the province of Alberta.”

Now, everyone who deferred their bill, no matter from which retailer, will see this new “Rider” on their invoice starting in the month of October 2021.

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The city says “Rule 034 from the AUC, states that an electricity service provider” will add a “rider” to all customer’s bills, titled “Utility Deferral Adjustment – Electricity” or “Utility Deferral Adjustment-E.”

Therefore, this rider will be applied to consumers whether they are customers of a retailer, are on the regulated rate option, or are default supply customers. This rider will be charged on a per-kilowatt-hour basis.

Now that the bylaw has been passed, it will remain in effect until June 18, 2022.

by Connor Gunn